Red Alchemist
by Nova Rhea9d3
Summary: 'Alexandrine Aurelius' is a mere name compared to 'Red Alchemist' as a true identity. With no real handle on her past all she can be sure of is her title as a hero. Wherever she came from, whomever was responsible for giving her life, she may never be able to say. The only thing she can be sure of from here on out is that she is a hero, and the world will ALWAYS need heroes.
1. Florida

For those of you who know Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate's character well, I'm letting him have some of his abilities from the New Earth comics. Also in some chapters her name will be written a lot so that there is no confusion as to who is talking at what time.

* * *

Name: Alexandrine Aurelius

DOB: Aug. 5, 1993

Age: 16/17 (22 after the 5 year time skip)

Alias: Red Alchemist

Powers/Abilities: Alchemy/Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic)

Mentor: Doctor Fate(Retired)/Kent Nelson

Costume: A red and black sleeveless jumper, with shorts and a red hood; the inner part of her costume is red while the outer part is black. A black belt with a silver buckle that has a red 'A' in the middle of it, red gauntlets that strap onto her forearms, black fingerless gloves, red combat boots with black laces and black soles, and a black face mask that covers from the bridge of her nose all the way down her neck.

Appearance: Mocha Brown skin, curly dark brown hair; mid-back length, grey eyes, athletic build, 5'5".

Even though Kent was retired his expertise in magic qualified him to train Alexandrine. There were others that could've potentially trained her, if she had wanted to be a villain. His understanding of the magic in science is what enabled him to help her and give her a chance to do great things with her abilities. They met when she was fourteen; she had been overwhelmed with her abilities in the beginning, unintentionally hurting others and sometimes herself. With his help she was able to discover and control her new abilities. She was capable of flight, enhanced strength, elemental manipulation, and life-force manipulation; all on a basic level, and in due time she would have more knowledge and strength.

* * *

~ Florida ~

May 18, 15:15 EDT

Alexandrine conjured up an alchemy circle for ice spikes and sent them in Kent's direction. He deflected her attack and sent an eldritch blast her way, she conjured light and tried to use her blast to cancel his out. She did her best to not be knocked back and pushed herself to add more force behind her beam. They were evenly matched for a time until her blast slowly started overtaking his. He flew above the beam as it gradually grew closer; moving caused a straight line to be burned through the open field they were sparring in, which took out a few distant trees.

"Good, you're getting stronger!" He called down to her.

"Yes, I've been practicing controlling light quite a bit lately! Also, my flying has improved as well!" She said flying after him.

He took off before she could come too close to him; training had now turned into a flight race. Kent was fast but with nothing to hold Alexandrine back from her full potential she was beginning to close the gap between the two of them little by little.

"Not to sound full of myself but I think I might actually be able to fly at sonic speed one day." She called over the loud roaring of the wind.

"You may be able to fly at sonic speed but I'll always be faster than you, kid." He teased.

"Oh and why is that?" She said shooting a wave of wind in his direction, hoping to knock him off kilter.

"Because –." He said before disappearing.

She stopped flying and looked around to see where he could've gone off to, doing a full 360 spin before flying higher to get a better view. She felt someone tap her shoulder and turned around, he was behind her now.

"- I can teleport." He stated before vanishing again.

"Psh. That hardly makes you faster than me. Teleportation is an irrelevant variable in this equation. I'm talking about strictly flying." She said crossing her arms while descending back to earth.

"If you put it that way I suppose you might maybe be able to beat me someday, when I'm dead." He said.

"Thanks for the confidence." She said sarcastically.

"Always a pleasure, kid." He said following her down.


	2. At The Drop of a Pot

~ Florida ~

May 22, 21:37 EDT

Alexandrine was meditating to take her mind off of how anxious she felt, in a little less than 2 months she would be meeting with other sidekicks at the Hall of Justice, in Washington D.C. From what she heard she was the second oldest of the four others she'd be meeting. She never truly had time to stop and meet them, there were fleeting moments where they crossed paths but no real solid conversations were had. Kent had her stationed to take care of most of the crimes that happened south east of the country, so she never had any real reason to travel north.

She took a breath before speaking to herself with her eyes still closed.

"There is no need to be anxious everyone else is in the same boat as you. You being the only girl there will not be a problem, you are strong, you are confident, and you are reliable." She spoke slowly and calmly.

A clatter in her kitchen made her jump. She placed her hand over her chest and could hear her heart beating loudly in her ears. She got up and cautiously opened her bedroom door.

"Who's there?" She called down the hall.

There was no answer.

"Great, some asshole better not have broken in." She grumbled.

She quietly made her way down the short hallway and slowly peaked around the corner, there was no one to be seen in that moment. There was moment where the lights went out and she started to feel a strong sensation of falling. Directing her attention downwards she quickly realized that she was, in fact, falling to what could be her death. Cars could be seen zooming past down below, the speed at which she was falling caused her eyes to tear up and her tears to be left behind by her heavier falling form.

"Holy mother of Jesus!" She yelled

She tried to make herself start flying but the ground seemed to grow closer and closer by the second.

'Oh hell! Calm down think light thoughts!' She screamed in her head.

She concentrated as hard as she could and recovered before the treetops were almost an arm's length away.

"Suck it gravity!" She yelled pulling up at the last possible moment.

As she flew above the trees she suffered minor lashes from the branches while trying to right herself. The night air seemed colder now that she was semi-drenched in sweat that had formed in her panic. She saw a clearing and hastily made for a landing. Having reached the ground all she could really think to do was lie down, which was exactly what she did. Not long after a figure walked up beside her.

"How's the weather up there?" Kent said smirking down at her.

"It was cold and awful, I think I pissed myself." She said breathing heavily.

"Nah, I wouldn't go that far, sure you were scared but you handled yourself well enough." He said.

She sat up in a huff.

"Why the hell would you do something like that?" She yelled throwing her hands up in the air.

"I thought it would help get rid of your anxiety." He said nonchalantly.

"What an awful method to use. What If I hadn't made it?" She said.

"If you had even half the amount of confidence in yourself that I have in you about rebounding, you wouldn't be so worried." He said reaching his hand out to assist her.

She took his hand and stood up before dusting her backside off.

"I'm confident I need a shower." She said while looking around. "…Where the hell are we?"

"We're just outside the city, downtown." He said.

"Downtown, why would you bring me all the way out here?" She said.

"You won't always be dropped in familiar places, you have to be able to adapt to any new environment at the drop of a pot." He said.

"You mean a hat?" She said.

"No, I mean a pot. Hearing someone drop a pot is much more startling than hearing someone drop a hat." He said starting to walk away from her.

"True." She agreed. "You could've let me have some shoes. If I step on a dirty syringe you'll be the one paying my hospital bill." The look of disgust plainly plastered on her face from her realization.


	3. Terror Squared

~ New Orleans ~

May 24, 14:23 CDT

Alexandrine had answered the call about a sudden bank robbery being committed by the Terror twins. She was familiar with the brother-sister villain duo; they seemed to be a constant pain in her ass.

"What the hell is the point of putting them in a jail that they keep breaking out of?" She said thoroughly annoyed with the situation.

She arrived on the scene to see a police car be flipped over into the air mid drive. She quickly flew after it and caught it in midair before it could smash into the café across the street. The car started dragging her down faster than she would have hoped until she activated her strength.

"Well would you look at that. Look who came to grace us with her presence, Tuppence. It's Rouge Magician." Tommy said in his thick southern accent.

"It's Red Alchemist you hillbilly delinquent." Alexandrine spat at him, lowering the cop car to safety.

"Looks like someone came for an ass whooping!" Tuppence growled in an accent just as thick, launching herself at Alexandrine.

Alexandrine conjured a gust of wind to knock Tuppence backwards into an alley, landing her in an open dumpster.

"I guess that would be you two." Alexandrine said.

Tommy dropped his bag of money before leaping towards Alexandrine and knocking her to the ground.

"I'll show you hillbilly!" He yelled cocking his fist back and aiming for her face.

She moved her head to the side just in time for him to punch a small crater in the ground.

"Your aim sucks!" She taunted before conjuring light to blast Tommy off of her.

Tommy landed a block away before Tuppence rebounded and tried to drop kick Alexandrine while she was on the ground. She rolled out of the way in time before another crater was formed where she had been.

"If I didn't know better I'd think you guys were trying to hurt me." Alexandrine said sarcastically.

"No kidding." Tuppence said starting to throw kicks and punches her way.

Alexandrine started to engage in hand-to-hand with Tuppence, doing her best to deflect the blonde's ground shattering kicks and punches. Alexandrine had mostly added the gauntlets to her costume in order to avoid blade wielding villains, but they were proving to be a good deflector from hard hitters as well. Tuppence had no real fighting strategy except for brute strength, leaving her open to calculated attacks. When Alexandrine saw her opportunity she grabbed hold of Tuppence's right fist with her left hand before doing a combination of kicks to her inner legs and stomach. Tuppence let her left fist fly, Alexandrine caught it with her right hand and continued her assault; shin to shin contact was expected to bring Tuppence lower. It worked slightly, her endurance made it nearly impossible to truly hurt her.

"If you really think that did anything you're not as smart as you think." Tuppence said.

She "Spartan kicked" Alexandrine in her stomach knocking her into a moving car. The driver swerved from the surprise of impact and drove into a store front. Alexandrine got to her feet and looked around to see if anyone got hurt. She rushed over to the store and forced the car door open; the impact had slightly crushed the doors inward. She took the keys out of the ignition to avoid any more damage.

"Are you alright, sir?" She said helping the driver out of his car.

"I-I think I'm alright." He said shakily.

He started rubbing his neck uncomfortably.

"If you have whiplash I can help." She said placing her hand on the back of his neck to heal him.

There was a white light emanating from her hand, a few moments later the man seemed fine.

"Wow that really is better. You should be a doctor." He said moving his neck around.

"I can only heal so many injuries. I don't have miracle abilities." She said.

Alexandrine instructed everyone in the store to get to safety and tell other passer byes to get off the streets before going back to the fight.

* * *

~ New Orleans ~

May 24, 15:02 CDT

The battle had gone on for almost an hour; Alexandrine was starting to feel the effects of using her abilities for an extended period of time.

"You two are really starting to grind my gears!" She yelled over a barrage of blasts she sent after their long-distant, leaping forms.

The three of them were starting to take the fight outside of the city making her feel more comfortable about not hitting any bystanders who could be caught in their crossfire. After a while of fighting with her the twins decided to grab the money and run, feeling that fighting was no longer worth it.

"And you think we're thrilled about you being up our asses?" The twins shouted back in unison.

Alexandrine had finally grown tired of the chase, she felt like she would descend at any moment. She conjured up an alchemy circle for a tornado and sucked the twins up before they could get too far. She grounded herself and watched the twins go around in their wind tunnel prison.

"It's only a matter of time before you two run out of air." She called out to them.

"I agree." A male voice said startling her.

She turned around to see Superman standing behind her. She dispersed the tornado and let the Terror Twins fall to the ground with loud thuds. They could hardly walk straight; Tuppence vomited once she stopped walking, missing Tommy's boots by a few inches; he side stepped before falling over on his side and shutting his eyes.

"Stop the world I want to get off." Tommy said grabbing his head.

"I should have just done this in the beginning." She said shaking her head at all the time she wasted.

"You did well, there were no casualties, the damage was kept to a minimum, and you kept your targets contained. Kent has trained you well." Superman said putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I guess you could say that. He can be unorthodox in his training at times." She said thinking back to the night he made her fly for her life.

"He means well." Superman said as he put inhibitor collars on the twins.

"I know. I am grateful for him being in my life, I don't know what I would've done if he hadn't found me." She said pulling Tommy to his feet.

Superman grabbed Tuppence by her bicep to make her straighten up.

"Y'all are going to jail now." Alexandrine said in a mocking southern accent.

The two of them rolled their eyes at her as Superman hauled them off to containment, leaving her to go back to and help clean up as much of the mess as she could.

* * *

When she got back to "ground zero" she started cleaning up as much stray rubble as she could without damaging anything else.

"I think I'm done for the day." She said wiping the sweat from her brow.

"You just saved me a lot of hassle with having to rebuild." The store owner thanked her.

"Just doing my job, ma'am. It was kind of my fault." She said before flying off. "Please let me make it back home without having to walk." She prayed out loud.


	4. Hand-to-Hand

~ Kent's Gym ~

May 27, 08:15 EDT

Kent had wanted to start training earlier with Alexandrine now that they were getting closer to traveling to Washington D.C. He tried to keep her on a balanced regiment; today they were doing hand-to-hand training. Alexandrine wore a navy blue tank top with black shorts. Kent wore a black t-shirt and grey sweat pants.

"You did good defeating the Terror Twins." He said throwing a punch in her direction.

"Thanks. It did take kind of long though." She said blocking his punch.

"As long as you accomplished your goal you shouldn't be too fixed on a time period." He said.

He did a spinning back kick making her duck down before getting back up; he motioned to sweep her legs out from underneath her making her jump over them. She started throwing punches of her own, he blocked them with ease and started moving forward causing her to start walking backwards.

"You're supposed to be the one driving me back." He said.

He grabbed her by her left arm just as she was about to land a punch, he twirled her around so she had her back against his chest and put her in a sleeper hold.

"There will come a time where you might not be able to use your powers. That shouldn't be what does you in, you need to always be able to defend yourself." He said.

She was struggling against him while slowly starting to pass out, the closer she came to passing out the harder she would struggle. Right before she was sure her legs would give out beneath her she did a wide side step between his legs forcing him to do a split, causing him to let her go.

"Ah, darn it!" He exclaimed while holding his crotch.

She turned around after getting her fix of air and checked to see if he was alright.

"Are you okay?" She said concerned.

He started laughing.

"Yeah, that was just a hell of a surprise. It hurt." He said still laughing.

"Do you need some ice?" She said motioning to move once he answered.

"No, I'll be okay in a moment." He said still holding his crotch. "That was a smart thing to do, not many people would expect that, especially not if they're male. Most people expect to get head butted in the nose."

"I thought about it at first but I wasn't entirely sure it would've worked." She said rubbing her sore neck.

He stood back up and got into a fighting stance.

"Shall we continue?" He said.

"You bet your ass, old man." She said getting back into a fighting stance.

She ran in his direction and did a flying kick, before her attack connected he grabbed her by her legs and spun around in circles before letting go of her, she stopped herself from landing face first by putting her hands out in front of her and pushing off the ground as they made contact. The momentum caused her to have to start doing back flips before landing on her feet.

"Look alive over there!" He called running towards her.

She got into a fighting stance once more and braced herself for his attack. He activated his strength and ended up pushing her back, she grunted out of surprise before also activating her strength. As they continued to spar it sounded like cannon balls being fired, the impact of each blocked hit was impressively loud.

* * *

~ Kent's Gym ~

May 27, 10:30 EDT

Alexandrine and Kent were both sweating profusely and had several minor cuts and bruises.

"We can stop if you'd like. No need to kill yourself over a training session." He said panting while doubled over.

"Yeah right, is that your way of saying you've had enough?" She said panting while doubled over.

"No, but I feel if we both agree we could use a break I won't fight it." He said.

"Yeah, sounds good." She said slowly standing up.

They both went over to the bench and dropped themselves onto it. She looked at him in surprise before starting to laugh.

"Oh wow, I didn't expect to just drop myself like that." She said laughing.

"Neither did I." He chuckled. "You're getting much better. Your reflexes are quicker and you've gotten stronger as well." He said.

"Yeah, I've been able to lift more lately and I'm actually faster in the water now too." She said.

She and Kent normally trained together when it came to hand-to-hand training or using her powers, other than that she normally trained alone, following a list of workouts that he left for her to do.

"As you should be, that list helped me when I was about your level." He said.

"Thanks for passing the knowledge on." She said holding her hand out.

He gave her a low five while they both drank from their water bottles while cooling down.


	5. Fans

~ Florida ~

June 1, 16:17 EDT

"What the hell is with you people and robbing banks? Why can't you just go to a water park like normal people? It is too damn hot for you to be causing all this trouble right now!" Alexandrine yelled through a mega phone.

She was currently out as 'Red Alchemist'. Seven minutes ago she was enjoying a bacon, swiss, and mushroom burger, and iced tea before Kent called her about a bank robbery. It was supposed to be her day to relax and she still wasn't able to enjoy it. She was in no mood to be doing this at all. There were currently five people robbing the bank, they had hostages and were demanding they be let go. The cops on the scene were hoping to negotiate with them so there would be no casualties.

"Is there a way you could get into the bank without being seen?" The head police officer said.

"Yeah, I could go in through the back entrance and hopefully be able to take them out one by one without the others noticing. I'll need some time to make sure they're apart from each other so they don't start shooting altogether." She said.

"We'll try and keep their attention as long as possible. You just make sure that your plan doesn't go south." He said.

"Just leave the worrying to me." She said before flying off.

She stayed hidden behind the squad cars as she moved away from the bank before going around three buildings down, she wanted to make sure that the robbers couldn't see what she was trying to do. The bank had a back entrance for when the armored cars would pull up to deliver new bills and take the old ones away for incineration. She went and lifted the bay doors before making it to the door leading inside. She grabbed hold of the doorknob making it rust until it completely fell off. She could hear the doorknob on the inside clatter to the ground and waited to see if anyone heard it. When she didn't hear any footsteps approaching she opened the door to see if anyone was near. When she saw the coast was clear she started tiptoeing her way around the halls until she heard voices.

"Man, how the hell are we supposed to make it out of here now? This was supposed to be a simple grab and go job." Robber one said

"Would you chill out? We can still make it out of here in one piece with the money." Robber two said.

"But that, Red Alchemist, chick is here. When have you ever heard of someone getting away from her?" Robber one said.

"She's not a freaking god. She's just a brat in a costume, a girl. Are you really going to let a kid rile you up?" Robber two said.

"I guess not. I don't know, man I just want to get out of here." Robber one said rubbing the back of his neck.

She went closer before speaking.

"I think your partner is right. Both of you should chill." She said startling the two robbers.

They turned around to see her standing with both hands on her hips. Before either of them could get a shot off she froze them in a thin layer of ice.

"You two stay put while I get the rest of your buddies." She said patting them both.

* * *

She slowly rounded another corner while crouching down until she saw a female hostage, about in her mid-thirties, sitting on the floor not far away from her.

"Hey, hey can you hear me?" She whispered trying to get the woman's attention.

The woman nodded while she was looking in the direction of her captors.

"How many robbers are over there?" She whispered.

The woman inconspicuously put two fingers up before one of the robbers walked by her. Alexandrine moved farther back so she wouldn't be seen.

'Okay, there are two over there and one more somewhere else. I need to find a way to disarm those two without getting caught by the third one, who could be anywhere at this point. How the hell am I going to do this?' She thought.

She would listen to their footsteps while she thought about how to make sure no one got hurt.

'I could conjure some wind and blast them outside. But, that's assuming no one else gets in the way.' She thought.

She slightly stuck her head around the corner to count how many people were there, trying to be quick about it.

'Eight hostages and two robbers; the hostages are all on the floor while the robbers are standing up. If I can conjure wind circles next to both of them at the right angles I can get them out of here.' She thought.

She stuck her head around the corner one more time and waited for both of them to walk past the front door. Every now and again she would move back to her position and listen for the unseen third robber. When she heard nothing she went back to watching the other two until they were both in position.

"Here we go." She said to herself.

She conjured up two alchemy circles in front of the robbers.

"What the hell are those?" one of the robbers exclaimed.

She quickly blasted both of the robbers out of the front doors of the bank and onto the streets, where they were apprehended before they could compose themselves.

"Everyone stay calm." She said standing up.

She walked over to the hostages to see how they were doing.

"Is anyone injured?" She said.

They all looked at one another before nodding their heads no. She went over to the woman who helped her out and thanked her.

"Thanks for the subtle hints, you helped me a lot." She said before turning to the others. "I'm going to need all of you leave in an orderly fashion; the danger is not over yet."

When all of the hostages cleared out she went around the bank looking for the third. She walked by the robbers from earlier and saw they started to melt; she put another layer of ice on them before they could start moving again.

"Where the hell is this person?" She said out loud.

"Right here, bitch!" Someone yelled.

She turned around in time to see the last robber open fire. She used a wall of light as a force field causing the bullets to bounce off and ricochet around the room. Round after round of bullets were fired until she was sure there were none left. As he moved to reload his gun she ran towards him punching him square in the stomach, causing him to drop his weapon. As he gasped for air she picked him up by his throat and the waist of his pants before slamming him down on his back.

"Are you done?" She said looking down at him irritated.

As he continued to gasp for air he slowly nodded yes, eyes practically bulging out of his head from the shock of being slammed.

* * *

~ Florida ~

June 1, 16:57 EDT

The cops had finally left the scene with the last robber before Alexandrine finally decided to leave. She had carried the last robber out over her shoulder and let the cops put cuffs on him, the other two she carried out and put in containment trucks since they hadn't completely thawed yet. When the cops asked if they would be okay she let them know there was nothing to be worried about.

"That was so cool! Could you sign my drink?" Someone said.

Alexandrine turned around to see a small group of teenagers around the same age as her. The girl who spoke was holding out a clear plastic cup with an all green smoothie in it. She was slightly tan and had freckles, had brown, wavy hair with bangs, and wore red, square framed glasses.

"Uh yeah, sure. What's your name?" She said taking the cup and pen the girl handed to her.

"My name is Shel, my friends call me Shelly." Shel said.

"To Shel, have a fun and safe summer, Red Alchemist." She said as she signed it.

When she handed back the drink Shel started jumping up and down squealing thank you multiple times.

"You're one of my favorite young, female super heroes." Shel said excitedly.

The contour of a smile could be seen through her face mask.

"Thank you very much, that really does mean a lot to me." She said.

After the rest of the group asked her to sign a few things she waved them off before flying back home.

* * *

~ Florida ~

June 1, 20:00 EDT

Alexandrine was watching 'Hot Rod' on Netflix while eating a fruit salad when her phone started ringing. She paused the movie before answering.

"Hello?" She said.

"Hey, kid. Good job with taking care of those robbers today." Kent said.

"Thanks, it was a little touch and go there for a moment, but I powered through it." She said eating a melon ball.

"Good to hear you didn't let it beat you. Always stay confident in yourself. I called to let you know we'll be working your life-force manipulation tomorrow instead of you training by yourself." He said.

"Oh, okay. Sounds like a plan, old man." She said.

"Don't go to bed too late, you'll need to be alert tomorrow." He said.

"Alright, mom, I'll see you tomorrow." She said sarcastically.

"Goodnight, honey." He said in a mock old woman voice.

She chuckled before hanging up the phone and continuing her movie.


	6. Scars

~ Veterinary Office ~

June 2, 08:00 EDT

"I didn't know you had any pets." Alexandrine said.

"I don't. This is where we'll be training today." Kent said.

"How are we going to do that?" She said

"You're going to be healing animals for the day." He said holding the door open for her.

"You're always such a gentlemen Mr. Nelson." She said teasingly.

"I do my best to stay that way." He said before following after her.

They had been let into the back by Kent's friend who owned the practice. He said if Kent trusted her then he trusted her as well.

"This dog was struck in the back leg by a car this morning; I'll let you take a crack at fixing her leg." Dr. Vaas, the Veterinarian, said.

"Alright, let's do this business." She said before putting her hands on the dog's leg.

A glowing white light formed around her hands and she started to heal the dog, at first it had been nervous and agitated when she touched its leg but it eventually gained a better temperament.

"That's as much as her body will allow me to heal her, the rest is up to her." She said removing her hands.

"Alright, I'll run a quick x-ray and see how you did." Dr. Vaas said carrying the dog into the other room.

* * *

~ Veterinary Office ~

June 2, 08:20 EDT

"The x-ray shows it's healed pretty well. There are no abnormalities in the bone structure and the muscles seem to be fine as well. She also doesn't seem to be walking with a limp anymore so there's no more pain as far as I can tell." Dr. Vaas said.

She smiled at the news before turning to Kent who put an approving hand on her shoulder.

"I told you she was a natural." Kent said to Dr. Vaas.

"That you did." Dr. Vaas said wheeling out another patient.

"This cat was attacked a few days ago and it looks like he could use some relief from the pain." Dr. Vaas said.

She put her hands on the cat and started healing it like before. It didn't take as long as the dog did and the cat's wounds had closed up quite well.

"You can barely see the slashes now." Dr. Vaas said happily.

Dr. Vaas wheeled out patient after patient that he thought would be appropriate for the situation. She had done a decent job on most animals, some healed just fine while others who had already been healed up couldn't be helped anymore.

"This one has already healed." She said taking her hands off the animal once she realized her powers weren't working on it.

"But she's all scarred up." Dr. Vaas said.

"Exactly, she's scarred up which indicates that the healing process has pretty much finished. I can't heal an injury that has already healed up, scars or not." She said.

"That's unfortunate to hear." Dr Vass said petting the small dog.

"Yeah, that's why I always try to do it right after someone gets hurt." She said also petting the small dog.

* * *

~ Veterinary Office ~

June 2, 10:02 EDT

She finished healing another ferret before she finally felt she was at her limit.

"I'm starting to feel kind of light headed." She said while closing her eyes.

"That's fine, if you want to stop for the day you can. You did excellent work." Kent said letting her leave the room.

"I feel really good having helped them out." She said waving bye to the Vet and all the animals she could.

"That's a hero personality for you." He said holding the door open for her.

"I'll never get tired of that." She sighed happily.

"I hope not, manners are always something that should be practiced." He said walking after her.

* * *

~ Café ~

June 2, 11:00 EDT

"Do you think you'll be ready?" He said.

"Ready for what?" She said putting her menu down to look at him.

"Around this time next month we'll be heading to the Hall of Justice to officially meet the others." He said.

Her faced paled at the sudden realization of how time flew past. She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"I will. I have to be ready. I can't be nervous about this forever. When the time comes I will be ready." She said sternly.

"Forget the other villains you're the one they should scared of. If looks could kill I'd be on the floor right now." He chuckled heartily.

She smiled at him and let out a 'Psh.'

"Whatever, old man." She said picking her menu back up trying to hide her smile.


	7. Alchemy

~ Kent's Gym ~

June 5, 09:05 EDT

Alexandrine was doing laps in the pool for the time being. She was still contemplating whether she would be strictly swimming in the pool, or if she would go flying afterwards. She was practicing her backstroke for endurance, if she ever got dropped into a body of water and was too tired to use her abilities she didn't want to end up drowning.

She had gotten out once she was done and started stretching to avoid cramping up later on.

"Should I practice flying or should I just go home?" She said to herself.

Her phone started ringing while she was mid-stretch.

"Hello?" She said.

"The Terror Twins broke out of jail again." Kent said.

"Damn it all to hell!" She yelled while rushing to rinse off. "Where are they now? What are they doing?"

"They haven't gotten too far from the jail yet. Someone is already on it, but I called you to be ready just in case they get too far." He said

"No problem, old man." She said starting to slow down a little bit.

She got ready as fast as she could without skipping any vital cleaning and dried off as fast as she could. She pulled her hair into a ponytail after squeezing a decent amount of water out of it. She put her uniform on, leaving her facemask around her neck before she started pacing back and forth in the media room in Kent's gym.

"Those jackasses better not get far." She said agitated by their persistence.

* * *

~ Kent's Gym ~

June 5, 09:46 EDT

Her phone started to ring again and she picked up before it got to the second ring.

"Hello?" She said quickly.

"They caught the twins. They're on their way back to jail now." He said.

"Great. I can't wait for them to break out again." She said sarcastically.

"You shouldn't sound too deflated, I'm sure they'll break out again eventually." He said.

"I'm going home now. I'll talk to you later, old man." She said.

"Alright, kid. Take it easy." He said before hanging up.

* * *

~ Florida ~

June 5, 13:00 EDT

Alexandrine was reading a book about alchemy that Kent had found for her. He figured it would help her better understand how to harness her powers and use them to her fullest potential. Had it now been of such importance she may or may not have read it due to its intimidating thickness. There had to be at least fifteen-hundred pages in the book, and the reading at times could be a bit dry.

"It could be like an instruction manual for your powers." She remembered Kent say as he handed the small baby of a book to her.

At times it was slightly hard to read because it was hand written by someone a long time ago. It was mostly cursive and what seemed to her at times, unnecessarily accented.

'Elemental Manipulation: User can manipulate, shape and create the basic elements of nature.'

Solid (Earth Manipulation)

Liquid (Water Manipulation)

Gas (Air Manipulation)

Plasma (Fire Manipulation)

'Elemental Transmutation: User can transmutate chemical elements with their mind, changing any elemental form, solid form, liquid form, gaseous form, or even plasma form.'

'Life-Force Manipulation: User can sense, generate and manipulate the fundamental force that allows life to appear/exist, grow and flourish throughout the universe. They are able to control their own personal life-force that dwells within them, allowing them to achieve untold power and great abilities considered to be beyond that of normal beings. Users use physical, spiritual, and mental powers to control their life force.'

'Elemental Attacks: User can release/use elements/energy to attacks of various shapes and/or intensities, either projected, used as a part of melee attacks, etc.'

'Elemental Beam Emission: Release beams of a respective element.'

'Elemental Blast: Release respective element over a specific target area.'

'Elemental Wave Emission: Project respective element that expands rapidly on contact with an object.'

'Omnidirectional Elemental Waves: Send out a wave of respective element in all directions.'

'Hand Blasts: Release elemental blasts from hands.'

'Zap: A tiny short release of element to cause pain or discomfort, usually too low-powered to be destructive.'

"This sounds comfortingly familiar to me so far." She said as she continued to read.

* * *

~ Florida ~

June 5 21:00 EDT

Kent stopped by Alexandrine's apartment to see how she was doing with her studies, when she didn't answer the door he let himself in and went to her room. She was passed out face first in the book on her bed, lights on, and still in her clothes from earlier.

"Someone might have overdone it a little." He said before shaking her. "Hey, wake up. How about you go to bed now?" He said.

She lifted her head and glared at him through the bright lights.

"I am in bed you weirdo." She said getting off the bed.

"How's the book treating you so far?" He said.

"Harsh, it seems to be in it for the long run, I'm not sure if I feel the same way about it. I don't want to hurt its feelings though." She said rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Give it some time, it'll grow on you. Any time you feel like you're in a bind you can look to the book for extra guidance." He said putting the book on her desk.

She grunted her understanding as she dragged herself to the bathroom to shower before going back to sleep "properly."


	8. New Orleans

~ New Orleans ~

June 18, 16:05 CDT

"I always wanted to bring you here eventually. I find voodoo to be an interesting concept. With all the curses, zombification, forced hallucinations, or even fertilization; a very interesting concept indeed." Kent said.

He and Alexandrine had finally taken a "vacation" together to New Orleans. He had wanted to teach her about as many different types of magic as he could, he wanted her to be able to protect herself from a variety of hexes and curses if possible. He knew he couldn't always be there for her and wanted to make sure his knowledge lived on through her should anything happen to him.

"And now you finally get to. Honestly, I'm happy we got to do this before going to the Hall of Justice. Things might start getting busier once everything is over." She said smiling at him.

"Are you ready for it all?" He said.

"Born ready, old man." She said holding her hand out enthusiastically for a high-five.

He gave her a high-five making her smile even wider.

"Glad to see your nerves have disappeared. One of the worst things you could ever do is to second guess yourself. If I didn't think you were ready I would have never suggested you be introduced to the others." He said.

She nodded her head in understanding, and felt proud of herself for finally trusting her abilities the way Kent did.

* * *

~ New Orleans ~

June 18, 18:00 CDT

"I'm getting kind of tired of walking, also I'm getting hungry." She said placing her hand on her stomach as it let out a long, loud growl.

"I suppose I'm starting to feel a bit peckish myself. I remember there being a place that served excellent gumbo not too far from here." He said starting to look around for the restaurant.

"Anything sounds good right now. Isn't gumbo supposed to be super spicy though?" She said wiping sweat from her forehead.

"Yeah, but you'll like it, we'll just get a lot of water to keep us from passing out from heat stroke." He joked continuing to walk.

She sighed.

"You're the worst, old man." She teased.

"What a mean thing of you to say." He said giving her a playful tap on her leg with his cane.

* * *

When they finally found the restaurant it was slightly crowded, he led her to a corner table before pulling her chair out for her.

"Thank you." She said smiling at him.

"No problem, dear." He said before taking his seat.

While they had been waiting for their food to come out they had been talking about random things and laughing unintentionally loud at times.

"Being on a team can be quite liberating, and at times it can be a real pain in the ass." He said.

She nearly spit her water out having heard him say anything that could be considered a "curse word."

"Oh wow, I was not expecting that at all." She said using a napkin.

"We can all be surprising at times." He said.

Their food had come out shortly after and they started to eat in semi-silence. She had to stop eating every so often when she started to sweat again.

"This is so freaking spicy." She said blotting her tongue with a napkin before drinking water.

He had taught her that the best way to quell spicy food was to first blot the oil off her tongue before taking a drink.

"It is good though. Let's just hope I don't get acid reflux from this." He said continuing to eat.

* * *

~ New Orleans ~

June 18, 22:17 CDT

"Today was pretty eventful." Kent said.

"Yeah, but my head is kind of spinning from all that information. It was interesting and all but jeez." Alexandrine said.

"I understand what you mean, when I first started my career as an archeologist there were several things that I had to constantly read up on, and try to remember in a short period of time." He said.

"I love reading and lectures as much as the next person, but sometimes my eyes and brain just don't agree." She said rubbing her sore eyes.

"I think we're done for now. I'll bring you back for more once I feel it's necessary." He said.

"Boy, I can't wait for that." She said sarcastically.

He gave her a playful tap on her leg with his cane like he did earlier, making her lift her leg backwards to kick him in his behind before running off.

"You can't catch me!" She called back to him playfully.

"I suppose you're right, I'm not as young as I used to be." He said watching as she ran ahead of him in a zigzag formation, a small smile on his face.


	9. Hall of Justice

~ Washington, D.C. ~

July 4, 13:37 EDT

Kent and Alexandrine were currently waiting outside the Hall of Justice for the others to arrive. He was in his signature gray suit while she was in her uniform.

"Not that I'm not thrilled to be here, but I can feel the anxiety building up in my stomach." She said.

"You'll be fine, dear. The others should be here shortly, I'm sure they're just tying up some loose ends." He said reassuring her.

As they were waiting there were fans and journalists with cameras and notepads on either side of the walkway that was kept clear by golden, dividing ropes. The flashing lights had become too much and she did her best to turn away from them, hoping the others would get there soon.

"Red Alchemist! Red Alchemist! How do you feel knowing you'll be meeting with your new potential teammates today?" A journalist shouted in her direction.

She looked to Kent for some kind of answer.

"You might as well." He said motioning for her to go ahead.

She went close enough to the journalist to hear her, but not close enough for her to get grabbed.

"In all honesty I'm very nervous. I have never been part of a team before, and I've only been a hero for a few years now." She said sincerely.

"What is your advice for other youths who would like to be heroes?" A male journalist said.

"If you truly want to be a hero then go for it. Do not let yourself feel like you're unable to because of doubt. Everyone is valuable to the cause if they're willing." She said.

"How do you feel about the Terror Twins being your opposites in the hero/villain world?" The same journalist said.

"I wouldn't really call them my opposites, but I do end up having to deal with them often. I mean yeah they can be huge nuisances, but they keep me busy. " She said.

"Red Alchemist! Are you currently dating anyone?" Another journalist said.

She walked over to him, looked at him for a moment, smiled through her mask, and made a motion with her hand that said her lips were sealed. This caused the journalists to start making more of an uproar about it.

"Is it, Speedy?" One journalist shouted.

"How about, Aqualad?" Another shouted.

"Do you prefer older or younger men?" Another shouted.

She walked back to Kent after it seemed like their attention would be focused mostly on relationship questions. He chuckled at what she had done.

"You've gone and done it now." He said.

"They were asking for it. I just gave them what they wanted." She said.

~ Washington, D.C. ~

July 4, 14:00 EDT

Kent and Alexandrine had watched as the other heroes started to arrive in the distance. Aquaman and Aqualad, Batman and Robin, Green Arrow and Speedy, and eventually The Flash and Kid Flash. As they got closer the clamoring started back up again.

She was finishing up signing things when a little girl started talking to her.

"When grow up I want to be a hero, too." The little girl said.

She looked to be around 8 years old, had mocha brown skin, green eyes, kinky, reddish-brown hair, pulled up into two French braids, and a small gap between her two front teeth.

Alexandrine crouched down and got eye level with the little girl before sticking her hand out for her to shake.

"I look forward to fighting crime alongside you one day, then. The world could always use more heroes." She said.

The little girl's smile got so wide it made Alexandrine's face hurt just looking at her. She grabbed her hand and shook it furiously as she giggled.

People in the crowd started calling out to the other heroes as they made their way down the path. There were audible debates about what Kid Flash's proper hero name was, and the fact that Speedy being Green Arrow's sidekick made no sense.

"We can start heading inside now." Kent said.

They both started walking before the others had reached the end of the walkway.

"Hey, Red Alchemist!" Kid Flash called after them.

She waved to them before pointing to the hall entrance to let them know she'd see them inside.

* * *

The sign on the doors leading inside read 'Authorized Personnel Only.'

"Holy hell! These are some huge statues!" She exclaimed.

"Tell me about it." Kent said gazing up at their impressive size.

As the rest of the group reached the doors they opened to reveal Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter on the other side.

"Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Red Alchemist. Welcome." Martian Manhunter said before starting to walk inside. "You now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked galley, and of course our library."

Alexandrine's ears perked up as he said library, and her eyes widened as she saw the library.

'If the world ended I could probably live in here.' She thought looking at the unlimited supply of books.

"Make yourselves at home." The Flash said.

Alexandrine hesitated a little bit at first before heading over to the nearest shelf to see what the reading was like.

'Urban Legends, The History of Salt, Water Birds, Aquatic Life, a World Atlas.' She thought before picking up the World Atlas and flipping through it.

"You did say you wanted to brush up on your geography." Kent said when he saw what was in her hands.

"Definitely, I honestly only have a general idea of where some things are." She said admiring the layout of the book.

"Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day. We shouldn't be long." Batman said looking towards the sidekicks.

A small sphere like device came down and started scanning the heroes.

"I guess that's my cue to leave." Kent said turning to leave.

"What? Why?" Alexandrine said not wanting to be left alone.

"I feel like I'm dropping you off on your first day of kindergarten." Kent chuckled patting her head. "You'll be fine, dear. If you need me I'm only a phone call away."

He teleporting out of the library leaving her to stand behind the rest of the group in silence.

When the scanning was complete a door that read 'Justice League Members Only' opened up. Before they could walk through Speedy spoke up.

"That's it? You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass." Speedy spat crossing his arms, dissatisfied.

"It's a first step. You've been granted access few others get." Aquaman said.

"Oh, really?" Speedy said, directing his arm upwards at the people taking pictures behind a glass on the upper level. "Who cares what side of the glass we're on?"

Alexandrine started to feel more uneasy and walked closer to the group so she wouldn't be singled out.

Green Arrow stepped forward before speaking.

"Roy, you just need to be patient." Green Arrow said.

"What I need is respect!" Speedy said before turning to the group. "They're treating us like kids, worse, like sidekicks! We deserve better than this!"

Everyone in the group looked at one another, not seeming to feel the same as Speedy did, before looking back at him.

"You're kidding, right? You're playing their game, why, because you think the play fair? Today was supposed to be THE day. Step one in becoming full-fledged members of the league." Speedy said.

"Well sure, but I thought step one was a tour of the HQ." Wally said.

"Except the hall isn't the league's real HQ!" Speedy said getting everyone's attention.

Alexandrine hadn't spoken up about it, but Kent had already told her about The Watchtower because he felt she could keep a secret. She wasn't about to let him down now.

"I bet they never told you it's just a false front for tourists, and a pit stop for catching zeta beam teleporter tubes to the real thing! An orbiting satellite in space called The Watchtower." Speedy said.

Green Arrow looked to see Batman and The Flash glaring at him.

"I know, I know, but I thought maybe we could make an exception." Green Arrow said shrugging sheepishly.

Batman glared harder at him making him frown.

"Or not." Green Arrow said.

"You are not helping your cause here, son. Stand down or -" Aquaman said before being cut off by Speedy.

"- Or what, you'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son!" Speedy spat. "I'm not even his." He said looking towards Green Arrow. "I thought I was his partner, but not anymore." He said before taking his hat off and throwing it to the floor.

The shock was plainly displayed on everyone's face.

'Way to leave me to face this disaster alone, old man.' Alexandrine thought, starting to sweat nervously as she waited to see how far this would go.

Speedy turned around and started to walk out, speaking before completely passing the group.

"Guess they're right about you four, - you're not ready." Speedy said.

Immediately after the doors closed behind Speedy the monitors started making noise and Superman's face was displayed across the main screen.

"Superman to Justice League, there's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire." Superman said.

"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus. This may present the perfect opportunity to -" Batman said before another transmission came in.

"Zatara to Justice League, the Sorcerer, Wotan, is using the Amulet of Aten to blot out the sun; requesting full league response!" Zatara said.

"Superman?" Batman said waiting for his response.

"It's a small fire; local authorities have it under control." Superman said.

"Then Cadmus can wait. All leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates, Batman out." Batman said contacting the rest of the league before turning to the group behind him. "Stay put."

"What? Why?" Robin said.

"This is a league mission." Aquaman said.

"You're not trained." The Flash said.

Alexandrine felt insulted, after all the encouragement Kent gave her and pushed her to believe in herself, they were pretty much spitting and stomping on that confidence and trust.

"Since when?" Kid Flash exclaimed throwing his arms up in disbelief.

"I meant you're not trained to work as part of this team." The Flash said motioning towards the older group of heroes.

"There will be other missions, when you're ready." Aquaman said.

"But for now, stay put." Batman said glaring at the younger heroes before walking away with The Flash and Aquaman.

When the door to the transport room closed Kid Flash spoke up.

"When we're ready? How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like, like sidekicks?" Kid Flash huffed throwing his arms about in frustration.

"My mentor, my king. I thought he trusted me." Aqualad said looking deflated.

"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics! They've got a secret HQ in space!" Kid Flash exclaimed throwing his arms in the air again.

"What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad said.

"I have a better question. Why didn't we leave with, Speedy?" Robin said.

Kid Flash and Aqualad looked down as if to contemplate their own answers as to why they didn't.

"No offense, but I probably would've stayed even if you guys left." Alexandrine spoke up.

The group turned to her as she was putting the Atlas back in its proper place on the shelf.

"So you're really happy with being a sidekick?" Kid Flash exclaimed in disbelief.

"Technically, I'm an apprentice. Kent never really made me feel like second fiddle, he always encouraged me, saying I could do better when I thought I wasn't ready. He's a good man." Alexandrine said.

"Well at least he was supportive enough to encourage you to shoot farther than the league seems to think we can go." Robin said.

"In all honesty I never thought I'd be meeting any of you, I thought I'd just end up staying in my own little corner of the country and protect "the little guy" until I couldn't anymore." Alexandrine said.

"We were bound to cross paths at some point, it would be impossible not to meet any of us at all, especially with Kent Nelson being a former Leaguer, and your powers being no short of impressive. Aquaman has mentioned you before, and your powers of elemental manipulation." Aqualad said.

"I suppose you're right." Alexandrine said looking thoughtful. "You guys talk about me?" She exclaimed surprised to hear that she had their attention at all.

"We've all heard about you." Robin said. "Batman thought if you were able to make, Kent, take you on as a sidekick, that you must've been a person of interest in some way."

"Yeah, and I heard you could like control time, or that you had some sort of variation of the speedster ability." Kid Flash said.

"I mean I think I have the **_potential_** to have the ability to manipulate time, and possibly vibrate through solid matter or something like that, but I can't do them now. I'm literally not strong enough for it yet. It also think it takes a level of concentration I may never have, it's a delicate thing." Alexandrine said.

"Well the point is we would've met eventually." Kid Flash said throwing his arm around her shoulder in a friendly manner.

The group had gone silent again before Aqualad spoke up.

"What is Project Cadmus?" Aqualad said.

"Don't know, but I can find out." Robin said with a devious look on his face.

Robin went to the main computer and started messing with it until he was granted access.

"Alright, Project Camus. Genetics lab here in D.C. That's all there is, but Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate." Robin said.

"Solve their case before they do. It would be poetic justice." Aqualad said smiling a little.

"Hey, they're all about justice." Robin said hoping to get him to jump onboard.

Aqualad sighed.

"But they said stay put." Aqualad said.

"For the blotting out the sun mission, not this." Robin said with confidence.

"Wait, are you going to Cadmus? Because if you're going I'm going!" Kid Flash said eagerly.

They both turned to smile in Aqualad's direction.

"Just like that, we're a team on a mission?" Aqualad said.

"We didn't come for a play date." Robin said.

Aqualad smirked and the others looked happy.

"Are you with us or not?" Robin said looking at Alexandrine.

She sighed before answering.

"If Kent were here he'd probably make me go anyways." She said agreeing.

"That's because he knows what it's all about!" Kid Flash said before they started heading out.


	10. Project Cadmus

The team of young heroes arrived at Project Cadmus in time for an explosion to knock two scientists out of a top story window. Kid Flash ran up the building and caught them before they fell to their deaths, throwing them up on the roof before he lost traction and had to grab onto the ledge of the open window.

"So smooth." Robin said watching Kid Flash struggle.

"Does he always have to run ahead? We need a plan, we -" Aqualad said before realizing Robin had disappeared. "Robin?" He looked around unable to find him.

His attention was drawn to Robin laughing as he swung above them onto a fire truck, and into the window of the lab, pulling Kid Flash up.

"What a team we've all made so far." Alexandrine said.

"Indeed." Aqualad said running ahead.

Aqualad took the water that was coming from the fireman's hose and used it to make a water pillar to lower the men from the roof down to the ground. Alexandrine flew into the building after Aqualad was done.

"Appreciate the help." Aqualad said sarcastically.

"You handled it, besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?" Robin said typing away on one of the computers.

Alexandrine started looking through the filing cabinets with Kid Flash.

"Have you found anything yet?" Alexandrine said.

"Not really, just a few experiments, some are marked classified. It might be something but I'm not sure yet." Kid Flash said.

They were searching for a few moments longer before they heard Aqualad say something about someone being in the elevator.

"Elevators should be locked down." Kid Flash said.

Robin went ahead and pressed the button to see if it would work.

"This is wrong." Robin said before he pulled up his scanner. "Thought so, this is a high speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two story building."

"Neither does what I saw." Aqualad said before going over to pry the doors open with his bare hands.

"Damn, someone's been eating their Wheaties." Alexandrine said, earning a playful elbow to the ribs from Kid Flash.

They all walked over to see that the elevator shaft went down several levels.

"And that's why they need an express elevator." Robin said crouching between the doors.

Robin shot a grappling hook to the ceiling of the elevator shaft before lowering himself. Aqualad and Kid Flash jumped on the rope after him, and then Alexandrine. Robin indicated that his rope could go no further after he reached a door that read 'SL 26'. He swung over to the ledge moving over so Aqualad could get on, and then Kid Flash with help from Aqualad. Seeing that there was limited space on the ledge Alexandrine jumped off to the side before Robin started hacking the doors open. Aqualad pried open the doors once more revealing a long, dimly lit hallway.

"Welcome to Project Cadmus." Robin said.

"It looks like an alien horror movie down here." Alexandrine said.

Kid Flash started speeding down the hall.

"Wait!" Aqualad called after him in a loud whisper.

When Kid Flash reached the end of the hall way he stopped before falling backwards. There was a small herd of gray, mammoth sized, elephant like creatures going through. Kid Flash had rolled out of the way in time for him not to get crushed.

"No, nothing odd going on here." Aqualad said sarcastically.

There was a smaller horned creature riding one of the larger creatures, which horns glowed red for a moment.

"That was freaking bananas." Alexandrine said as the creatures finished passing.

"No kidding." Robin said.

"Okay, I'm officially whelmed." Robin said.

They had just opened a door where there were pods reaching a very tall ceiling filled with electricity producing creatures, not unlike the ones they had seen earlier, except smaller, and thinner.

"This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world. The real Cadmus isn't on the grid! It generates its own power with these things. Must be what they're bred for." Kid Flash said walking down the hall.

"Of course, even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sewing dragon's teeth into the earth." Aqualad said.

"And this Cadmus creates new life too. Let's find out why." Robin said heading over to a computer.

Alexandrine walked closer to the pods putting her hands over her eyes to shield them from the bright lights the creatures were emitting.

"I wonder if they feel anything." Alexandrine said.

One of the creatures seemed to react to her presence by slamming its leg against the glass, making her jump.

"Holy hell!" Alexandrine exclaimed grabbing her chest.

"What did you do?" Aqualad called over to her.

"I didn't do anything." Alexandrine said running back over to the group. 'I am not about to get murdered today!' She thought, wearier of the creatures now.

"They call them, Genomorphs." Robin said looking through the files. "Woah, look at the stats on these things! Super strength, telepathy, razor claws! These are living weapons." He exclaimed.

"They're engineering an army. But for who?" Kid Flash said.

"Wait, there's something else, Project Kr. Ugh. The files' triple encrypted, I can't - " Robin said before being cut off.

"Don't move!" a gruff voice called.

A man in gold and silver armor accompanied by many other Genomorphs entered the room before stopping.

"Wait, Robin, Aqualad, Red Alchemist, Kid Flash?" He said.

"At least he got your name right." Robin said addressing Kid Flash.

"I know you, Guardian, a hero." Aqualad said.

"I do my best." Guardian said.

"Then what are you doing here?" Kid Flash said.

"I think that's my question to ask. I'm chief of security, you're trespassing. But we can call the Justice League, figure this out." Guardian said.

"You think the league is going to approve of you breeding weapons?" Kid Flash said.

"Weapons? What are you –? What have I -?" Guardian said causing the Genomorph on his shoulder to glow red. "Ugh. My head." He put his hand on his helmet seeming to have a migraine, before straightening back up "Take 'em down, hard! No mercy!" He commanded the Genomorphs.

As the Genomorphs came their way Robin did a spinning jump in the air and threw a smoke pellet down in front of the group, before using his grappling hook to avoid them. The others started fighting the genomorphs that came in their direction. Kid flash was running and jumping off of walls before attacking them, Alexandrine caught one in mid-air before it tackled her to the ground, and spun around in circles using it to hit the others that got close enough, Aqualad was trying to throw one off of him that jumped on his back, before Guardian charged at him, knocking him into one of the wall panels. Aqualad got up and started brawling with him, when they seemed to be at a stalemate Aqualad activated his electrokinetic abilities and pushed Guardian back.

Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Red Alchemist ran out when they saw the opportunity to do so. They kept running until they saw Robin at the end of a hallway trying to open a door and skidded to a halt.

"Way to be a team player, Rob!" Kid Flash exclaimed sarcastically.

"Weren't you right behind me?" Robin said feigning innocence.

Robin got the door open and the four of them ran inside the elevator. Genomorphs could be heard slamming against the outside of the doors.

"That was too damn close. I don't care if I sound like a wuss, those things were freaking creepy." Alexandrine said holding her leg.

"Are you alright?" Aqualad said.

"Yeah, one just scratched me." Alexandrine said moving her hand to reveal four medium sized claw marks of her leg "I'll be fine in a moment."

Alexandrine activated her healing and one by one the claw marks closed up.

"That was awesome." Kid Flash said smiling at her.

"Thanks, I guess." Alexandrine said wiping the remaining blood off on the back of her uniform.

"We're heading down?" Aqualad said noticing the elevator number getting higher.

"Dude, out is up!" Kid Flash said to Robin.

"Excuse me? Project Kr. It's down on sub-level 52." Robin said.

Aqualad put his arm between the two of them before speaking.

"This is out of control." Aqualad said rubbing the back of his head. "Perhaps- perhaps we should contact the league." He looked back at the group.

The elevator reached sub-level 52 and the doors opened to reveal a room that looked like it was made of living inner tissue.

"This is worse than sub-level 26; at least those walls were solid. What if those things start popping out of the walls down here?" Alexandrine exclaimed.

"I don't think that'll be happening. The files didn't say anything about the creatures being able to faze through solid matter." Robin said before running out of the elevator.

"We are already here." Kid Flash said before running out as well.

Alexandrine and Aqualad sighed in unison.

"Ladies first?" Aqualad said motioning for Alexandrine to go before him.

"I might as well." Alexandrine said sounding defeated.

They all ran before ducking near some equipment and seeing two hall entrances.

"Which way?" Aqualad said addressing Robin.

"Yeah, bizarre looking hallway one, or bizarre looking hallway two?" Robin said.

"Hold!" a voice called.

A humanoid looking Genomorph rounded the corner before using its telekinesis to throw drums at the wall behind the group, making them explode. Robin threw a birdarang in its direction which it stopped using its telekinesis before throwing more drums in the groups direction. They ran in the opposite direction before they could be attacked again. Kid Flash rounded a corner too fast and ended up knocking a woman to the ground. A door marked 'Project Kr' was beginning to close, Kid Flash put a tank in between it to keep it from closing all the way.

"Hurry!" Kid Flash called to the rest of the group.

One by one they all jumped to the other side of the door, Aqualad kicked the tank out once he saw the Genomorphs had caught up.

"I disabled the door, we're safe." Robin said.

"We're trapped." Aqualad said.

"A guys? You'll want to see this." Kid Flash said.

He pushed a button that made the chamber in front of them light up.

"Woah." Robin said, otherwise speechless like the rest of the group.

The chamber had a person inside and was marked with a 'Kr' on the front.


	11. Project Kr

Kid Flash walked over to the pod to get a closer look.

"Big 'K' little 'r'. The atomic symbol for Krypton. Clone?" Kid Flash said turning to the others.

"Robin, hack." Aqualad said.

"Oh, right, right." Robin said recovering from his shock and plugging into the computer.

Alexandrine went over to the pod by Kid Flash.

"…The facial structure looks kind of similar to Superman's." Alexandrine said before putting her hand to her head and groaning.

"Are you okay?" Kid Flash said.

"I-I think I just have a headache. This is all a bit overwhelming at the moment. I wasn't expecting so much excitement today; I didn't really sleep last night." Alexandrine said with a slight chuckle.

Kid Flash helped her sit down a little ways away from the pod.

"You'll be okay, you're a tough cookie." Kid Flash said.

Alexandrine smiled a little before nodding in agreement.

"Weapon designation, Superboy. A clone force grown in- 16 weeks?" Robin exclaimed. "From DNA acquired from, Superman." His eyes widened.

"Stolen from, Superman." Aqualad said.

"No way the big guy knows about this." Kid Flash said.

"Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation twenty-four seven." Robin said.

"And these creatures?" Aqualad said pointing to the three Genomorphs above Superboy's head.

"Genomorph gnomes; telepathic. Force feeding him an education." Robin said.

"And we can guess what else. They're making a slave out of, well, Superman's- son." Kid Flash said.

"Now we contact the league." Aqualad said.

Everyone tried their means to communicate. Alexandrine had pushed down on the 'A' on her buckle and found that she could only receive static.

"No signal." Robin said.

"We're in too deep, literally" Kid Flash said. "This is wrong." He said referring to the clone.

"We can't leave him like this." Robin said.

Aqualad had a face of contemplation.

"Set him free. Do it." Aqualad said.

Robin opened the pod and the clone picked up his arm shortly after. Once his eyes were open he flew across the room and tackled Aqualad to the ground before starting to punch him in the face multiple times. Alexandrine immediately got to her feet and ran with the others to stop Superboy from beating on him.

"Woah! Hang on, Supey!" Kid Flash said.

"We're on your side!" Robin said straining to keep him from doing more damage.

"You need to calm down!" Alexandrine said.

Superboy slipped his right arm out of Kid Flash's hold and punched him backwards through a glass pillar.

"I don't want to do this!" Robin said before detonating a smoke bomb in Superboy's mouth.

Alexandrine let go as Superboy started to choke on the device, Aqualad took the opportunity to kick him away, knocking him into the control panel. Robin shot a taser at Superboy which didn't seem to be very affective. Superboy grabbed the prongs attached to his chest and pulled Robin towards him and caught him in mid-air, slamming him down on his back and stepping on his chest. Alexandrine ran towards him kicked him in the crotch thinking it might have had some effect on him; the impact had been like kicking a steel beam.

"I should've thought that one through!" Alexandrine yelped holding her foot.

Superboy picked her up by her throat and started to strangle her while simultaneously stomping on Robin. Alexandrine started to choke, and the immense pain combined with the lack of oxygen caused her eyes to roll back into her head.

"Enough!" Aqualad yelled hitting Superboy with his ice hammer.

Superboy went flying before he landed against his pod table, cracking it.

Aqualad helped Robin up before he collapsed on his side from the pain. He shook Alexandrine to get her to respond.

"Are you alright?" Aqualad said.

"My windpipe isn't crushed yet. Look alive, kid." Alexandrine said, weakly pointing in the direction she heard footsteps coming from.

Aqualad stood up and put his hand out for Superboy to stop.

"We are trying to help you!" Aqualad said.

Superboy stayed silent before moving to attack Aqualad again. He moved out of the way in time for Superboy to punch a big crack in the floor, and Aqualad to slam him against a far wall. As the commotion was going on Alexandrine started to heal herself.

'How the hell did this even happen?" She thought starting to feel the burning in her neck go away.

When she felt well enough she went to Robin.

"Are you okay, kid?" Alexandrine said.

Robin groaned in pain and she put her hands on his chest to start healing him. She watched the brawl between Suprboy and Aqualad escalate to the point of Superboy jumping and slamming Aqualad into the rock ceiling of the room.

"Oh my God." Alexandrine said not seeming to be able to get anything else out. "Heal faster, kid!" There was more urgency in her voice as she saw him slam Aqualad another time.

Aqualad didn't get up after the second time, and Robin still wasn't moving to get up. Alexandrine ran away from Superboy as he got closer.

"We are not the enemy! We're here to help you!" Alexandrine exclaimed.

Superboy didn't react to her words, he ran at her and she braced for impact. She was able to hold him back for a moment before he got one of his arms loose and punched her square in the mouth, grabbed her by her shoulders, and threw her into a wall knocking her out.

"Time runs short. You must awaken! You must awaken, now!" A voice called in Alexandrine's head.

When she woke up she saw she was inside a pod with her hands shackled above her. She looked to her left and saw the others in pods as well. She started feeling nauseas and shut her eyes trying to concentrate on not vomiting.

"What-What do you want? Quit staring, you're creeping me out!" Kid Flash yelled at Superboy.

"Uh, KF, how about we not tick off a guy who could fry us with a look?" Robin said.

"We only sought to help you." Aqualad said.

"Yeah, we free you and you turn on us. How's that for gratitude?" Kid Flash said.

"Kid, please, be quiet now. I believe our new friend was not in full control of his actions." Aqualad said.

Superboy started to grunt.

"Hmm. What if I- What if I wasn't?" Superboy said.

"He can talk?" Kid Flash said surprised.

"Yes, he can." Superboy spoke up.

"Not like I said it." Kid Flash said defending himself.

Alexandrine watched as Superboy clenched his fists while glaring in Kid Flash's direction.

'I feel like a limp noodle. Did he knock one of my teeth loose?' Alexandrine thought as she ran her tongue over her teeth, tasting blood and feeling a tooth move. "Damn." She said out loud.

"Dam? Like beavers?" Superboy said confused.

"No." Alexandrine said glaring past him.

"The Genomorphs taught you telepathically." Aqualad said.

"They taught me much. I can read, write. I know the names of things." Superboy said.

"But have you seen them? Have they ever actually let you see the sky, or the sun?" Robin said.

"Images were implanted in my mind, but no, I have not seen them." Superboy said.

"Do you know what you are? Who you are?" Aqualad said.

"I am the Superboy, a Genomorph. A clone made from the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him should her parish, to destroy him should he turn from the light." Superboy said.

Alexandrine shuddered at the thought of Superboy having the ability to destroy Superman.

"To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration, but like Superman you deserve a life of your own, beyond that solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus." Aqualad said.

"I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!" Superboy yelled defensively.

"Your home is a test tube. We can show you the sun." Robin said.

"Ugh, pretty sure it's after midnight, but we can show you the moon." Kid Flash said.

"We can show you, introduce you to Superman." Aqualad said.

Superboy looked astonished.

"No, they can't. They'll be otherwise, occupied. Activate the cloning process." Desmond, A man in a lab coat with a Genomorph on his shoulder, said walking into the room.

"Pass! Batcave's crowded enough." Robin said.

"Ditto." Alexandrine and Kid Flash said in unison.

"And get the weapon back in its pod!" Desmond harshly ordered Guardian.

"Hey, how come he gets to call, Supey, an it?" Kid Flash said.

"Will you stop calling him, Supey. He's not a pet and we're obviously not getting to keep him." Alexandrine said rolling her eyes.

"How very observant of you." Desmond said sneering at her.

"No one was talking to you, so how about you shut the hell up?" Alexandrine yelled at him.

The man glared at her and pushed a button that mad her shackles electrocute her; she cried out in pain making the others called out to her.

"Help us." Aqualad said addressing Superboy.

When Guardian tried to lead Superboy away he pulled his shoulder away from his hand.

"Don't start thinking now. " Desmond said.

The Genomorph on Desmond's shoulder jumped onto Superboy's and started glowing.

"See, you're not a real boy, you're a weapon and you belong to me. Well, to Cadmus. Same thing! Now get back to your pod!" Desmond ordered.

Superboy obeyed without hesitation and walked out with the door closing behind him. Desmond's assistant activated the machine to extract the team's blood samples. Two robotic arms with four prongs each had electricity running through them. Alexandrine looked at them fearfully at the thought of being electrocuted again, when the prongs entered her skin on either side of her chest she started crying out and struggling.

"Please, stop!" Alexandrine yelled in pain.

Alexandrine felt herself vomit in her mouth a little and had no other choice but to swallow it back down, her face mask wouldn't allow her to spit it out. After a while there was a loud banging on the door and it was lifted out of the wall and above Superboy's head. His entranced managed to stop the extraction.

'Oh thank God.' Alexandrine thought as tears streamed down her face.

Superboy tossed the door aside before heading back into the room. When Desmond and the others tried to rush him, he knocked them aside with ease.

"You here to help us or fry us?" Kid Flash said.

Superboy squinted his eyes before answering.

"Huh, I don't seem to have heat vision, so I suppose helping is my only option." Superboy said.

Robin's pod opened without anyone touching anything and he jumped out.

"Urgh, finally. Lucky Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long." Robin said rubbing his wrists.

"Seriously, that's what you're worried about? The whole league will have our heads after tonight!" Kid Flash said.

"That's what I'm saying!" Alexandrine said rolling her eyes.

Robin pressed a button on the control panel and the others pods opened.

"Free Aqualad and Red Alchemist. I'll get Kid Mouth." Robin said.

"Don't you give me orders either." Superboy growled before jumping and shattering Aqualad's shackles.

Aqualad slumped before Superboy caught him, Aqualad thanked him and he nodded. He went over to Alexandrine and shattered her shackles as well.

"You knocked my tooth loose." Alexandrine said glaring at him. "But I guess you rescuing us makes us square."

Superboy nodded at her as well before they all jumped down and make a break for it. As they ran by Desmond yelled after them.

"You'll never get out of here! I'll have you back in pods before morning!" Desmond threatened.

"Suck it you demented weirdo!" Alexandrine yelled back at him.

As they left the room they heard an explosion.

"What did you do?" Alexandrine said.

"I destroyed our DNA samples." Robin said with a smirk.

"Good man." Alexandrine said smiling back at him.


	12. Cadmus Falls

"We are still 42 levels below ground, but if we can make the elevator-. " Aqualad said.

A large group of the mammoth genomorphs began blocking the path in front of the group; they turned around to see more genomorphs breaking out of pods in the wall behind them. A mammoth smashed the ground behind them making the group jump back from it. Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin started jumping over the mammoths while Alexandrine ran underfoot and Superboy started fighting them.

"Superboy, the goal is escape, not to bury ourselves here!" Aqualad called out to him.

"You want escape?" Superboy roared before picking up a mammoth and throwing it into two others that were approaching.

Aqualad pried open the elevator doors and the group jumped through. Robin used his grappling hook and Kid Flash and Red Alchemist started to climb.

"Wouldn't it be faster if you flew us up?" Kid Flash said.

"I fly through wind manipulation. If I did it now I could risk knocking the others down the elevator shaft." Alexandrine said.

"Oh." Kid Flash said continuing the climb alongside her.

Aqualad and Superboy were flying up the elevator shaft until they started to fall; Aqualad stopped their fall by grabbing onto a weapon Robin shot into the wall.

"Superman can fly. Why can't I fly?" Superboy said.

"Don't know, but it looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound; still cool." Kid Flash said, helping Superboy down onto the ledge.

"Thank you." Superboy said to Aqualad.

"Guys! This'll have to be our exit!" Robin exclaimed as the elevator started moving down above them.

Superboy punched the doors open to sub-level 15 and everyone jumped out of before the elevator reached them.

"That was too close." Alexandrine said.

More genomorphs started running towards them and they started running down a hall to their left.

Superboy started telling them which way to go. Left, then right, until they reached a dead end.

"Great directions, Supey! Are you trying to get us repodded?" Kid Flash said.

"No, I-I don't understand." Superboy said.

"Don't apologize, this is perfect!" Robin exclaimed happy to see a vent.

One by one the climbed through the vent and started to crawl through. Alexandrine was between Aqualad and Kid Flash.

"At this rate we'll never get out." Kid Flash complained.

"Way to be optimistic." Alexandrine said.

"Well you weren't exactly optimistic yourself earlier." Kid Flash said.

"You know what-?" Alexandrine exclaimed before Superboy spoke up.

"Shh. Listen." Superboy said.

"I hacked the motion sensors." Robin said confidently.

The group had made it out of the vents and into an empty hallway before Robin had plugged into the system and started messing with it.

"Sweet. " Kid Flash said.

"Still plenty of them between us and out." Robin said.

"And I've finally got room to move." Kid Flash said, pulling his goggles down over his eyes.

Kid Flash started running up the stairwell and knocking genomorphs out of the way with his speed, making it easier for the others to follow behind him.

"More behind us!" Robin exclaimed.

Alexandrine conjured wind circles and blew the genomorphs backwards before more of them kept coming causing her to keep moving. When she passed Superboy he took care of the rest by completely destroying the set of stairs behind them.

"I guess that's one way to do it." Alexandrine said continuing her climb up.

When they finally got to the top alarms started flashing red and the main door closed making Kid Flash come to a dead stop after crashing into it.

"We're cut off from the street." Aqualad said.

"Thanks, my head hadn't noticed." Kid Flash said holding his head.

Superboy punched the door and tried prying it open when he saw it wasn't working. Aqualad and Alexandrine tried helping as well.

"Can't hack this fast enough." Robin said.

Mammoth Genomorphs started coming down the hall.

"You have got to be kidding me." Alexandrine said exasperated.

She conjured light circles and started blasting them. It slowed them down a little but more kept coming.

"Anytime you want to find an exit, let me know!" Alexandrine called behind her.

Robin kicked a side panel down and the others followed after him.

"Red Alchemist!" Aqualad called.

Alexandrine shot the ceiling before following after the others, hoping to slow the genomorphs down. The path they ran down ended up being blocked by more genomorphs and Guardian, before the path behind them was blocked as well. They got into fighting stances ready to brawl their way through the crowd before they all mysteriously passed out.

They got back up and Guardian told them to get out of Cadmus while he dealt with Desmond.

"I think not." Desmond said appearing suddenly." Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus." He said before downing a vile of blue liquid.

Desmond started to grow, ripping out of his cloths, his eyes turned black and red and his skin began to peel off causing Alexandrine to put her hand over her mask in shock. He now stood as a giant blue creature with red striped all around his body. Guardian told everyone to get back and he charged at Desmond, before being tossed aside with ease at hitting a wall face first, and upside down. Superboy went afterwards and started fighting with Desmond until he tackled Superboy through the ceiling, leaving a huge hole.

"Okay, that's one way to bust through the ceiling." Alexandrine said.

"You think lab coat planned that?" Kid Flash said as he hitched a ride up with Robin.

"I doubt he's planning anything anymore." Aqualad said before Alexandrine flew up with him.

They got up just in time to see Desmond grab Superboy by his legs and throw him at the group, knocking back Aqualad and Alexandrine. They recovered and stood together before going after Desmond. Kid Flash ran straight at him before sliding underneath him getting his attention, when Desmond looked back Aqualad and Superboy both punched him in his face, Kid Flash got on his hands and knees making Desmond fall over backwards.

"Learned that one in kindergarten." Kid Flash said proudly.

Robin flipped over Kid Flash and threw birdarangs at Desmond and Alexandrine blasted them so they exploded in his face. He shielded his eyes and turned around to see Superboy behind him. Desmond picked Superboy up and slammed him into a pillar before hitting him several times. Aqualad used his water whip to hold Desmond's arm back before rushing forward and kneeing him in the face, before landing on the pillar above them. He went to hit Desmond with his water mace, but he caught it throwing Aqualad to the ground where he landed with a loud thud. Superboy was thrown against another pillar and Kid Flash went to the aid of Aqualad, only to be caught by Desmond and thrown into Aqualad. Alexandrine started blasting him with light getting his attention. He ran at her and she did her best to stay out of his reach until the others got back up. She was paying more attention to Desmond than the floor and tripped over some stray rubble.

"Ugh, horror movie moment." Alexandrine coughed.

Before she could roll out of the way Desmond brought his fists down onto her back and kicked her across the room into another pillar, before picking her up by the neck and continuously hitting her. She put her arms up to cushion the blow causing her gauntlets to start to cracking and bending against her bare skin. Before they were completely broken Superboy started attacking Desmond and grabbing his neck making him throw Alexandrine down. She recovered and took her now useless gauntlets off before examining her forearms. They were cut up but it was nothing too serious. Kid Flash started attacking Desmond he started following him.

"Superboy, Aqualad, Red alchemist." Robin called showing them his plan.

All of them started smashing pillars that were still standing. Robin drew a chalk 'X', Aqualad summoned water, Kid Flash lured Desmond to it before he was knocked down by Superboy, and Red Alchemist and Aqualad stood on either side of the water before sending electricity through it shocking Desmond.

"Move!" Robin called.

His birdarangs exploded bringing the ceiling down on Desmond causing the rest of the building to collapse. The group ran for cover as the roof started to come down, Alexandrine caught a part of the ceiling that was falling down over them with the help of Superboy. When the commotion was over Superboy pushed the rock over and they all surveyed the damage. Everyone was breathing heavily and their uniforms were shredded in some places. Alexandrine was glad she had a belt to keep the bottom half of her uniform up; the back of it got ripped at the hips and her shorts would have fallen down otherwise, her hood was also torn up a bit on the left side.

"We- did it." Aqualad said.

"Was there- ever any doubt?" Robin said before high-fiving Kid Flash, which apparently hurt the both of them.

"When I get home- I'm sleeping forever." Alexandrine said exhausted.

When they saw Desmond wasn't moving they relaxed.

"See, the moon." Kid Flash said making everyone look.

"Damn, it's beautiful." Alexandrine said rubbing her sore forearms.

Something started to appear in the view of the moon; it turned out to be Superman.

"Oh, and Superman. Do we keep our promises or what?" Kid Flash said confidently.

Superman, Red Tornado, Zatana, Captain Marvel, Martian Manhunter, Captain Atom, Hawkman, Wonderwoman, Hawkgirl, two Green Lanterns, Black Canary, Aquaman, Batman, Green Arrow, and The Flash showed up simultaneously.

"Are you still worried about them having our heads?" Alexandrine whispered to Kid Flash.

"I guess we'll see." Kid Flash said with a serious face.

Superboy walked forward and showed Superman the identical 'S' on his solar suit. He looked hopeful at first until Superman looked displeased.

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman said.

"He doesn't like being called an it." Kid Flash said.

"I am Superman's clone!" Superboy said speaking up.

There was dead silence among everyone until Batman spoke up.

"Start talking." Batman said.

When everything was explained a few members of the league left with Desmond in tow, and the younger heroes stood in a circle away from the others before Superman eventually walked over to talk to Superboy.

"We'll uh- we'll figure something out for you. The league will, I mean." Superman said quickly. "For now I better make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away." He said flying off.

"That wasn't awkward at all." Alexandrine said earning a glare from Superboy.

"Cadmus will be investigated, all fifty-two levels. But let's make one thing clear- " Batman said.

"You should've called." The Flash said cutting him off.

"We tried, we couldn't get a signal." Alexandrine said.

"We were literally in too deep." Kid Flash said backing her up.

"End results aside we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again." Batman said.

"I am sorry, but we will." Aqualad said.

"Aqualad, stand down." Aquaman said warningly.

"Apologies my king, but no. We did good work here tonight. The work you trained us to do, together. On our own we forged something powerful, important." Aqualad said.

"If this is about is about your treatment at the hall, the four of you-" The Flash said.

"The five of us." Kid Flash spoke up.

"And it's not." Alexandrine said.

"Batman, we're ready to use what you taught us, or why teach us at all?" Robin said.

The older heroes stayed silent.

"Why let them tell us what to do? It's simple. Get on board or get out of the way." Superboy said walking forward.


	13. Errands and Tabloids

~ Washington D.C. ~

July 5, 01:40 EDT

"Robin and Aqualad are right. Though it may not seem like it, me speaking my mind about this means a lot. I think we should be allowed to be an official team." Alexandrine said.

The heroes were currently sitting in the Hall of Justice's library making their case.

"We deserve to be able to be an official team after everything we accomplished today. If we hadn't, we would have never found Superboy, and brought to light what was going on." Robin said.

Batman sat in silence. Alexandrine's face started to pale, her courage from a moment ago fled under his cold, hard stare. The silence seemed to float in the air forever until he broke it.

"Give me three days to think about it." Batman said.

"Three days? You really think it takes that long to make a decision?" Superboy scoffed.

"I'm sure he has his reasons for the time period. The fact that he's considering it at all is a God send." Aqualad said.

The others nodded in agreement. Superboy sat back with his arms crossed and glared. When they were done speaking Batman left for The Watchtower.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm heading out." Alexandrine said getting up.

"I too should be heading out; I have plans to meet with Aquaman later." Aqualad said.

"Sounds like a plan." Alexandrine said starting to walk out.

"Wait! What do we do about, Superboy?" Kid Flash said.

"What?" Alexandrine turned around.

"We can't just leave him on his own, he has nowhere to go." Kid Flash said.

"Oh, right." Alexandrine said embarrassed at her carelessness.

"I'd invite you to stay with me, but I don't think you'll like my home unless you can breathe underwater," Aqualad said.

They turned to Alexandrine.

"Oh… no." Alexandrine said.

"Just like that? How cold." Kid Flash said.

"Well shoot! I wasn't expecting company; my apartment is a freaking mess right now. I barely have people over and I turned my place upside down while looking for… stuff last night." Alexandrine said looking suspicious.

"What kind of… stuff?" Robin said mocking her.

"None of your business stuff." Alexandrine huffed putting her hands on her hips.

"If it's that big of a deal, Supey can stay with me." Kid Flash said.

"Are you sure about that?" Superboy said.

"Yeah, my folks won't mind a bit." Kid Flash said.

"I guess that's settled then." Robin said.

* * *

~ Florida ~

July 5, 02:20 EDT

Alexandrine opened the door to her apartment and immediately fell face first onto her couch.

"I just want to fall asleep right here… but I need a shower so bad!" Her words were muffled by the couch cushions.

She got up and started to undress, leaving her tattered uniform on the floor of her hallway.

"I'll get it later, I gotta do laundry anyways." She said looking at her overflowing laundry basket.

It's not that she hated doing laundry she just didn't see the urgency in doing it until she was close to running out of underwear. She got in the shower and set it to as hot as she could without burning herself. She found herself leaning against the wall and sometimes crouching down as she became more tired, her aching muscles feeling better under the water. When the water started to run cold she finally got out and made herself something to eat.

"Cereal, Velveeta cheese, Macaroni elbows, Spaghetti, Ramen noodles, Ravioli." She said out loud scanning her pantry. "This is getting too scarce. I guess I've got a lot of things to do later." She started making a 'to do' list.

"Cookie Crisp it is." She said opening up the dishwasher.

Her nose was assaulted by a terrible odor of rotten food and drink. She looked inside and saw that none of the dishes were clean.

"What the hell is this BS?" She exclaimed.

Before she left for the Hall of Justice she had loaded up the dishwasher and set it to clean, apparently it didn't happen. So instead she grabbed a mug and poured the cereal inside, there were no more spoons available so she took the spoon out of the sugar jar and used it. She opened the fridge and saw she didn't have any milk so she took a can of evaporated milk, put it in a glass, mixed water into it, and poured it into her mug of cereal as a substitute; it tasted the same as regular milk so it wasn't too much of a problem. When she was done she brushed her teeth while sitting on the side of her tub with her eyes closed, she was jolted by the feeling of her almost falling back into it and finished brushing her teeth quickly before collapsing on her bed for a few hours.

* * *

~ Florida ~

July 5, 11:00 EDT

Alexandrine woke up feeling the worst case of dry mouth. She walked into her bathroom and looked in her mirror to see that see had dried drool leading from her mouth almost all the way to her ear.

"Ugh." She groaned sleepily before cleaning herself up.

Today was the day of errands. She'd do everything she had put off until she was unable to anymore. She started by getting dressed; her lack of clean clothes left her to be creative with her outfit of the day. She grabbed a pair of navy blue sophie shorts, a white tank top with a black cat on it, that was starting to run at the bottom, one red sock and one black sock, and her low-top, gray converse.

"I look like an organized mess." She said looking at herself in the mirror.

She put her hair in a messy bun and ran the dishwasher before she started sorting laundry; whites, darks, colors, towels, delicates, bed sheets and pillow cases. When she got her first load of laundry going she left for the store to pick up the essentials.

* * *

~ Florida ~

July 5, 13:50 EDT

"Alright, toilet paper, cereal, milk, eggs, paper towels, soda, yogurt, butter, sugar, coffee, batteries." She said, putting a twenty-four pack of them in the cart as she walked by. "Underwear." She thought after a moment.

She went to the underwear aisle and did her best to find solid colored underwear, or at the least, age appropriate underwear. She must have walked past the ice cream aisle at least five times before she gave in and picked up a tub of Birthday Cake flavored ice cream, afterwards stopping for Birthday Cake flavored Oreos as well.

"I need it!" She said acting like a spaz in public.

Two girls walking by started giggling, making her move away from the aisle as quickly as possible.

"Laundry detergent and dryer sheets." She sang as she briefly rode her cart down the aisle.

She also picked up some dishwashing liquid as well as more pods for the dishwasher. She popped over to the cosmetic aisle to pick up different lip products; some glosses, some lip balms; regular, medicated, and flavored. She also picked up some deodorant, lotion, and feminine napkins.

"I think I'm done for now." She said heading over to the register.

She put her head down against her arms as she waited for the line to move, every so often leaning to the side to see what a tabloid was saying about some Hollywood couple. Some were about the young heroes. Her eyes widened as she saw she was one of those heroes. She picked the magazine up and tried to read through it quickly.

"Red Alchemist, single young heroine? Maybe not. After having seen her at the Hall of Justice we were able to get some answers out of her. When asked if she was seeing anyone she slyly motioned that her mask was sealed." She rolled her eyes at the corniness of that description. "No one knows yet if she truly is with anyone, but sources say that there might have been some argument over the heroin as the other young heroes started to arrive." There was picture of Speedy looking agitated at Kid Flash, then one of Kid Flash waving to Red Alchemist, then another photo of Speedy leaving the Hall of Justice in a huff without his hat on. "Possible love triangle causes, Speedy, to storm out?" was written under it.

She nearly choked on air.

"Are these people freaking crazy?" She half whispered and half yelled.

"Next in line." The cashier said.

She looked up to see that it was her turn, and bought her groceries along with the magazine. It was one of those things you just couldn't leave behind.

"Damn." She said getting into her car after loading up.

She had been contemplating buying the whole rack so she could burn the magazines, but it wouldn't have made a difference. They were circulated everywhere, it was probably even on the internet by now.

* * *

~ Florida ~

July 5, 20:20 EDT

Alexandrine was practically done with everything she had to do. She still couldn't get over the craziness that was written in the magazine.

"I just hope the others don't see this. Then I'll really die" She said jumping on her bed after she was finished making it.


	14. Gyms and Sidewalks

~ Washington D.C. ~

July 6, 11:00 EDT

Alexandrine had decided to take advantage of being able to use the Hall of Justice's gym whenever she wanted. She'd always see Kent's gym as her main gym, but she was still curious. She had shown up in her civilian clothing so no one would bother her and she could slip in without being noticed. The gym had been impressively stocked; all of the machines that one would need were out and ready to be used. The air conditioning was on point, all of the treadmills had televisions and their own little fan, and the cycle machines also had screens so you wouldn't just be staring at a wall, or the rear end of the person in front of you, unless you wanted to. The gym's swimming pool was nearly Olympic sized, and even had a few hot tubs. There were saunas, and the showers were immaculately clean as well.

"This is too crazy!" She exclaimed.

As far as she knew she had the gym all to herself today. She started her day out on the elliptical, and ended with a trip to the sauna.

"I could get used to this." She said lying down across the bench with a towel under her.

She made sure to set a timer so that the sauna would beep to let her know it was time to get out. After watching '1,000 Ways to Die', she had become more cautious about using things, and was not keen on letting herself be turned into a steamed vegetable.

"While I'm here I might as well get something to eat too." She said.

She made her way over to the galley after she showered and got dressed; a red short-sleeved shirt, white capris, a red hair ribbon to hold her high ponytail, and all white converse. She looked through one of the two fridges and saw she could make her own yogurt from the items inside. She took some vanilla crunch granola cereal from the pantry, some plain yogurt from the fridge, sliced up an apple, put some honey in the bowl, and enjoyed her post-workout snack.

~ Washington D.C. ~

July 6, 15:01 EDT

"Yeah, the gym was really awesome." Alexandrine said, on the phone with Kent.

"Not better than my gym, I hope." Kent said.

"I mean it's got some potential." She teased.

"I understand, my only hope is that you just don't forget about us little guys." He said.

"Impossible, you're always bugging me about everything." She said, balancing herself on the edge of a sidewalk.

"You did well to not have died in Cadmus." He said.

"I'm incredibly lucky to have had help, otherwise I'd probably have a clone walking around while I was dead in a landfill somewhere." She said, almost falling over. "Oh crap!" She wobbled to the side.

"What happened?" He said.

"I almost fell sideways into traffic." She said.

"Then you'd really be a red alchemist." He said.

"I think my dark humor comes from hanging with you too much." She said, shaking her head.

"Maybe it was always dark and I just picked it up from you." He said.

"Maybe-" She said.

There was a sudden burst of loud screeches as a car started swerving out of control. Before anyone could get out of the way it hit another car from behind, eventually causing a five car pile-up.

"Gotta go!" She said, before hanging up.

She ran into an alley and made sure no one was around before she started changing. When she was done got an aerial view of the accident. There were three lanes, three cars had crashed in the middle lane, and their were two in the right lane; one had swerved to the left to avoid hitting the other and hit a passing car in the side. She got down and started surveying the damage.

"Is anyone hurt?" She said.

There were no responses at first. She went to the third car back, in the middle lane and looked inside before she could pry the door open.

"Ma'am. Are you okay?" She said.

The woman looked to be Latina and in her mid to late fifties, she had a gash above her brow and wasn't moving. Alexandrine placed her fingers on the woman's pulse and found her to be alive. She picked the woman up bridal style and took her over to a grassy area before lying her down and quickly closing the gash.

"Hang in there, an ambulance should be here soon." She said, before going back to work.

She went to the middle car and saw a man and his family inside.

"Are you guys alright?" She said.

"Oh my God! Please, I think my husband had a heart attack!" The woman in the passenger seat exclaimed.

Alexandrine pried the driver door open before checking the man's pulse, it was faint but she could do something about it.

"Alright, I need your help." Alexandrine said.

The woman nodded.

"I need you to go to the other cars and see if the others are alright." Alexandrine said.

She looked to the kids in the back, one looked to be a ten year old boy, and the other looked to be a twelve year old girl.

"Can you two help as well?" She said, pulling their seatbelts open one by one.

They both nodded.

"I need one of you to call 911, and the other to look after other people who get pulled from their cars, okay?" Alexandrine said.

They both nodded a bit shakily.

"Alright, lets do this." Alexandrine said, as she carried the man with her, the younger boy following behind.

"Is my dad okay?" He said.

"He'll be fine, I promise." She said.

She started giving him CPR through her face mask. She'd give him two full breaths and 15 pumps of his chest before checking his pulse. She did this a few times before she stopped feeling a pulse.

"Okay, I'm gonna need you to stand back." She said.

The man's wife had helped out the people in the car in front of her, and the car that had gotten rammed from the side. The ambulance was beginning to arrive. Alexandrine concentrated before conjuring electricity and zapping the man in his chest. She checked his pulse and zapped him again.

"What are you doing?" The girl exclaimed.

"I'm trying to start his heart back up." Alexandrine said.

"His heart stopped?" She exclaimed, starting to cry.

"I know it's hard, but I need you to go check on the others." Alexandrine said, zapping the man again.

She tried a forth time before the man finally opened his eyes again.

"What happened?" He said weakly.

"You had a heart attack, and got into a car accident. I brought you back." Alexandrine said.

The man's family went over to him as the paramedics started getting out of their vehicles.

"Is anyone hurt?" They began questioning the civilians.

"Thanks for holding things together." One paramedic patted Alexandrine on the shoulder as he ran by.

Alexandrine did a walk through of the cars and saw that one more person was still in their car. It was the car that had swerved to the side and rammed the other car. The airbag had deployed and deflated, their was blood from what looked to be a broken nose, and the passenger was passed out. She punched out the back window to unlock the driver's side door and pull the civilian out. She carried them to where the others were and put them down on their back. They had a pulse and seemed to be breathing, so she called the paramedics over to take care of them.

~ Florida ~

July 6, 17:19 EDT

"You handled yourself well." Kent said.

Alexandrine placed a plate of spaghetti down in front of him before sitting down herself.

"I had help from the civilians." She said.

"It was smart of you to utilize them." He said, grinding pepper over his pasta.

"I thought those kids were going to have to witness their dad die." She said.

"But they didn't, and you made that happened." He said.

She smiled at him and began to eat.

* * *

Author's Note: Going on hiatus for a bit. Need to do some serious job searching for a while. Sorry to stop so abruptly.


End file.
